The Second Circuit upheld the federal government's 2008 decision to take approximately 13,000 acres of land in central New York into trust on behalf of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 authorizes the federal government to take land into trust on behalf of I...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of environmental groups' lawsuit challenging the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency's EIS for its updated land use plan. Applying a standard similar to the standard for evaluating an EIS under NEPA, the court held that the EIS and update adequately addressed the lo...

A district court held that an Illinois excavation company was liable under the CWA for discharging pollutants into a river without a permit. The company discharged concrete, dirt, and other pollutants on the banks and bed of the Green River during its construction and maintenance of a levee. The com...

The Sixth Circuit, in litigation over the "waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule, held that an internal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers memorandum critical of the rule's technical analysis may be included in the record. Petitioners argued that the litigation record omits several materials that were...

A district court held that environmental groups have standing to sue EPA under the APA and CWA for its failure to disapprove West Virginia's §303(d) list, which lacks TMDLs for waterbodies previously identified as "biologically impaired." The groups' members use some, but not all, impaired waterbod...